Bulb confusion

dollparts

Ok, I am looking ahead to next spring and have been browsing endless catalogues and websites for spring bulbs.

I keep reading, hurry up! plant/buy now etc and I am thinking; where am I supposed to plant them when the borders are still full to the brim of plants still very much in bloom and showing no sign of fading for a good while yet?

I have been looking at the different way to layer bulbs in pots for continuous growth and flowering and I may have a go at this. Again, my pots are still very much alive and kicking so all this urgency is confusing me!

angelavdavis

I have found that taking photos at different times of the year does help you to identify spaces in the border.

I actually reserve my bulb planting to pots and hanging baskets - mainly because my borders are simply stuffed!

TravellingAbuela

I seem to have better results (for what reason I don't know!) with spring bulbs in pots/tubs. I have already decided that I am going to buy some more cheapo planters from Poundstretcher/Instore for more daffodil and tulip bulbs as soon as they are on sale in Poundland! I am not into layer planting, the pots are simply "put out of sight" till the end of winter when the daffs start pushing their leaves through. (OOh winter I dread the thought - and we haven't even had many nice sunny summer days up here since June!)

foxgloves

I always put my daffodil/narcissus bulbs in (whether in containers or flower beds) during Sept/Oct, and tulip bulbs in early Nov. If I'm layering pots and needing to plant a layer of tulips under a layer of daffs, then I tend to compromise & do those in October. By then most summer-flowering plants are over & at the stage where they're ready to be trimmed down for winter so this isn't a problem.